When treated like an integral system, insulation reduces energy consumption, which is an optimal way to benefit the environment.

The Environmental Benefit

Advanced Insulation’s purpose for existing as a company is to benefit the environment by delivering superior insulation work to our customers.  Advanced Insulation treats insulation like an integral system and not a commodity.  When treated like an integral system, insulation reduces energy consumption, which is an optimal way to benefit the environment.

“If” your attic insulation is deficient, Advanced Insulation’s “green value proposition” is a win-win situation for you and the environment.  Although our green proposition is rather mundane when compared to a solar array on a roof or a hybrid car, it is a great value if your home has missing or poorly installed insulation in your attic and it is not uncommon for Arizona homes to have mediocre insulation in the attic.  Link: Why so many problems?

According to an article in a March 08 issue of Fast Company Magazine entitled “Another Inconvenient Truth” greenwashing is quite common.  To greenwash is the “act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company and the environmental benefits of a product of service.”  

The article begins by saying, “you can’t swing a dead hippie in a big-box store these days without hitting some sort of green boast on a label.  Partially recycled.  Energy Efficient.  Eco-Friendly.  Natural!”    TerraChoice Environmental evaluated 1,018 green advertised products and all but one committed one of the six sins of green washing www.terrachoice.com     

This type of marketing is as nauseating, as it is common.  Too many companies are more interested in their appearance of their offer, rather than the substance of their offer.  This is where Advanced Insulation shines.  We don’t have to mislead consumers.  According to the Alliance to Save Energy “energy efficiency is the quickest, cheapest, cleanest way to extend our world’s energy supplies.” 

At Advanced Insulation we believe our green value proposition is one of the best you can come across in the state, “if” you have insulation problem in your attic.  Advanced Insulation blows in a recycled cellulose insulation product into your attic, which in turn makes your home more energy efficient and comfortable.

The investment in making your home more energy efficient not only helps the environment, but in return your house is more comfortable and it reduces your utility bill.  You are not giving up comfort to help the environment; you are increasing your comfort.  The investment in insulation pays for itself over time.  How quickly depends on the magnitude of the problem and the cost of energy.  See FAQ about Cost, Payback & Process.

Green:  About as good as it gets in the Valley   

Think about what happens to your news paper when it is dropped into the recycled bin or at the Lion’s club charitable recycling project.  Most people don’t have any idea where it goes, so we’ll fill in the blanks.  We’ll take you on a journey from your recycle bin all the way back to your attic. 

1. In most people’s minds the journey of recycled new prints ends at their curb or at a bin of a local charity where they deposit their newspaper.  This is where the cellulose insulation story begins.
   
   
   Depositing newspapers in the recycle bin
2. Once the newsprint is collected it is sorted and then sold.  The newsprint is a valuable commodity.  One of the buyers of recycled news print is our local cellulose insulation supplier, United Fibers, in Chandler Arizona.  The material is dropped off at the factory after being sorted before begin converted back to cellulose fiber.
   
   
   Sorted paper waiting to be processed   
3. The recycled newsprint is sent into the manufacturing process to fiberized into cellulose insulation.  This is a process in which the newspaper is converted back to a fiber. 
   
   
   Processing begins at the United Fiber Plant    
4. The cellulose insulation is treated with fire retardants and then packaged into thirty pound bags.  The finished cellulose insulation, including the added fire retardants, is not an unhealthy or hazardous material. 
   
   
   Processing completed    
5. The bags of cellulose insulation are loaded on to a trailer and then delivered to our facility in Glendale.  The fact that the insulation is being manufactured locally and delivered across town further reduces the impact on the environment.
   
       
   Trailers loaded in Chandler                                30 pound bags of cellulose insulation
6. Advanced Insulation loads our attic blow trucks in our Glendale yard and heads to our customer’s home.
   
   
   Blow truck parked by the curb in front of one of our customer’s homes
7. A trained installer blows the cellulose insulation into our customer’s attic.  Our installers are very clean and conscientious.  In the photo below they are blowing new cellulose, which has a grey color, on top of older cardboard based cellulose insulation.  In this older home there wasn’t enough insulation installed in the attic when the home was constructed. You can tell there are only a couple of inches or insulation in this attic because you can see the ceiling joists that our installer has his hand and knees on.
   
   
   Installer blowing cellulose into an attic
8. The cycle is complete.  From Sundays paper to working 24/7 in one of our customer’s attics to make their home more comfortable and energy efficient.

Why cellulose insulation in our retrofit program

The majority of our retrofit insulation jobs usually require us to blow in more insulation into existing attics and repair and add more fiberglass insulation.  For our retrofit jobs Advanced Insulation makes a purchase decision between blown cellulose and fiberglass insulation and we believe that locally manufactured cellulose insulation is the obvious environmental winner.

Advanced Insulation is not misleading consumers when we claim that our retrofit insulation program is one of the best green value propositions in the Valley. Locally manufactured cellulose insulation is a critical component of our offer because of its high recycled content and low embodied energy. 

Cellulose insulation is approximately 80% post consumer recycled content.  Paper, especially newsprint, represents one of the largest single components of the residential waste stream.  Instead of wasting this resource and placing it in a landfill, it is being re-manufactured into insulation that can be blown into an attic, which in turn saves energy. 

The embodied energy reflects the amount of energy to manufacturer and transport the product.  Any insulation product that reduces energy consumption is arguably green, yet is easy to see that cellulose has the most environmental benefits.  It takes about 20 to 40 times less energy to make a pound of cellulose than it does of blown-in fiberglass.  When it is manufactured at United Fiber in Chandler with local recycled material, the transportation costs are minimal compared to other insulation materials shipped from out of state. 

In and of itself the cellulose insulation is not the answer.  Like any insulation material it must be installed correctly to realize its full potential.  This is why Advanced Insulation is critical to the equation.  We are committed to performing quality insulation work, so our customers and the environment both realize the benefit.